How to Use Your Life for Spiritual Growth

A careless driver cuts you off in traffic and nearly causes an accident. You are in line at the grocery store and the guy ahead of you is sharing his life story with the cashier. A co-worker bumps into you and spills an entire cup of coffee on your brand new white blouse. I am sure you can see that these are all opportunities for something. Usually, the opportunity seen and taken is to get angry, lash out and say something that later we wish we could take back.

From the yogic perspective, you can actually use life’s challenges to help you grow spiritually. Each day to day annoyance contains an opportunity for spiritual growth and ultimately, enlightenment.

Now, you may be wondering, what is so enlightening about a ruined blouse?

It’s not them, it’s you

Any strong reaction we have to an outside stimulus has very little to do with what happened. It has everything to do with our inner condition.

Humans all have things we get upset about, and we each get upset about different things. Most of a person’s emotional responses are habitual and predictable. Ever notice how one type of stressor really gets you fired up but does not bother any one else in your family? It is because each of us has a unique formula which sets up our reactions to our environment.

Yogis believe each person has lifetimes of experiences, emotions, and attitudes that rest in the unconscious mind. Like a filter over a camera lens, it colors how we view the world and our role in it. In addition, the unconscious stores our past actions, tendencies, likes and dislikes as well as our habitual patterns. Imagine it working like a computer. When you experience a certain event, it pushes a button inside your unconscious mind that generates a pre-programmed response.

For example, I may have a button that has me feel hurt when a friend fails to return my phone calls, so when that happens, a button gets pushed, the program runs, and I get upset. But your wiring is probably different. You may have a button that is triggered when people use their cell phones in coffee shops. Your mother has neither of our buttons but has her own.

The confusion and upset most of us feel when things do not go our way is the result of identifying with our situation, our thoughts (our buttons) and forgetting who we really are.